And now for the news

We're kind of a fan of starting off the Daily with some lighter fare, and we have The Omaha World Herald to thank for today's appetizer. "Warning: Pot makes you mean to your pets," concludesPhiladelphia Inquirer's John Timpane, sharing this latest amazing headline: Omaha dad finds pot brownies, eats 4 of them, says mean things to cat. Yes, that is a real headline, and it's already received 10,000+ shares. "And I'm suddenly thankful nothing I've said to a cat has ended up in a police report, or the newspaper," confesses Albuquerque Journal​'s Dan McKay. "Apparently cats in Omaha have something to worry about," John Celock of The Celock Report. "This and Zombie Weed-Eating Sheep are my favorite news stories of 2016," decides Bustle's Jenny Hollander. We especially agree with the takeway from Tad Vezner of St. Paul Pioneer Press: "Best part of this story is 1st comment: 'Kevin, did you just ruin your journalism career or did you just make it?' We vote for "make it." Kudos, Mr. Kevin Cole!

Disclaimer: The above gif is not at all related to the story, but it's what came up when we searched for "cat pot brownie," okay?

You may be surprised to learn the speechwriter who wrote Patricia Smith's RNC speech about Benghazi may also join the ranks of GOP defectors voting for Hillary Clinton in November.

But because Clinton has developed a recent allergy for pressers and would rather do her own podcast, one Chicago Tribune columnist decided to matters into his own hands. "Hillary hates press conferences. So I used her campaign podcast to create MY EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH THE CANDIDATE!" chirps Chicago Tribune's Rex W. Huppke.

Three out of 5 Texan Trump supporters want secession if Clinton is elected.

"Tronc, 2016-2016" So reads a micro-obituary written by Nieman Lab's Joshua Benton in response to the weekend's biggest media story: The scoop from Politico's Ken Doctor that Gannett, the nation's second-largest newspaper company ...

"The Onion on the Great Fall of China: Shoddy Chinese-Made Stock Market Collapses," tweets journalist Louisa Lim, sharing a link that, while a parody, still manages to tie together the current Chinese market crisis, ...